The 56-year-old had been deemed “low risk” and was being held in open conditions.

The
murderer was allowed to work at Sue Ryder charity shops in Alcester and
Leamington Spa on a community work programme before he went on the run.

A spokeswoman for the shop said they decided to end Giles’ placement in August after liaising with the prison.

A whistleblower claimed that Giles had a row with a woman who worked in the Alcester shop.

He further claimed that a recommendation was made to remove Giles from open conditions five days before he absconded.

He
said that there are also concerns that Giles disappeared on Sunday night, but that guards only discovered he had gone at Monday lunchtime because had been staying in an annexe that had not been checked.

The
revelations come as West Mercia Police step up patrols to find Giles, warning the public not to approach him, but to dial 999 or 101.

Posters have been put up in shop windows across Alcester, where he is thought to have been spotted.

Officers
have also been travelling in a TV advert van through the Warwickshire towns of Alcester, Inkeberrow, Studley and Wixford during the man hunt yesterday.

Specialist search
teams with dogs and helicopters are scouring the local areas. Police believe Giles may be sleeping rough in woodland or farm buildings.

Although officers have also visited caravan sites and made further house to house inquiries for information.

Giles,
originally from Oldbury, murdered Kevin, from Quinton, Birmingham, after kidnapping him as he made his way home from a college woodwork class on January 31, 1995.

Months earlier, Giles had split up acrimoniously with Kevin’s older sister, leaving her with their young child.

He murdered Kevin in revenge and was jailed in 1997 – while Kevin’s body still hadn’t been found.

The Ministry of Justice said it was investigating the escape and could not comment on the claims.

Giles
was being held in open conditions at HMP Hewell along with other killers, sex offenders and offenders locked up for arson with intent, the whistleblower alleged.

He
claimed that housing such dangerous offenders at the lock-up where Category B and Category D prisoners are kept was putting staff and inmates at risk.

He also said there were barely enough prison officers to cover night time patrols because of budget cuts.

He
added: “There is no way that a schedule one offender like Alan Giles would have been placed into open conditions in the past.

“But
Alan Giles is just the tip of the iceberg. It used to be very strict, but that is not the case now. There are sex offenders, killers and arsonists walking around in open conditions and nothing can stop them walking down the road and catching a bus.

“The
result is that people like Giles are free to walk straight out of the front doors. We have a situation at night where the staffing has been cut from five down to three when it is at its most vulnerable.”

The
whistleblower said the merger of what was Hewell Grange with HMP Blakenhurst to form the new Hewell Complex also led to a massively diluted criteria for prisoners being accepted into open areas.

He
added: “We are now seeing the direct results of these changes and increased staff cuts on the ability of staff to properly monitor prisoners.

“This is not about trying to scare people, it’s about letting the public know what is really going on behind those walls.

“There are prisoners in there who have serious convictions for some really heinous crimes.

“I
am amazed that they have been put in open conditions, it’s unbelievable. There are other establishments in the country who are far more capable of coping with these kinds of offenders.

"When staff raise concerns the big stick that is used is that the prison could be privatised, but we probably already have lower levels of staff than in the private sector.”

A spokesman for the Prison Service said an investigation into the absconding of Giles was ongoing and that all prisoners in open conditions were ‘rigorously risk assessed’ and approved to transfer by the Parole Board.

He added: “This is now a matter for the police and we are supporting them in their investigation.

“The
number of absconds from open prisons in 2012/13 was the second lowest since records began, and all those located in open prisons have been rigorously risk assessed and deemed suitable for open conditions.

“We are not complacent about this issue and are looking at ways in which the risk of absconding can be reduced further.

“For
the vast majority of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences, which includes those on life sentences, transfer to open conditions
follows a recommendation by the independent Parole Board. Anyone who does abscond will be returned to a closed prison and may face further criminal charges.”

Tracy Mealing, head of volunteering at Sue Ryder, said: “For the past six years, Sue Ryder has successfully been running a prisoner volunteer programme.

“This is with risk-assessed prisoners, who are eligible to work out in the community. This partnership with the prison service has helped raise vital funds from our shops, whilst also supporting the prisoners’ resettlement.”

She said Giles worked in its Alcester shop in June this year and in July was transferred to the Leamington Spa shop.

“In August, a decision was taken in consultation with the prison to end Mr Giles volunteering with Sue Ryder,” she said.

“All
prisoners that volunteer at Sue Ryder have been through a robust and rigorous risk assessment process to ensure the safety of Sue Ryder staff, our volunteers and shoppers.”

Detective
Inspector Leighton Harding said: “If anyone spots Giles we would ask that they call us immediately so that we can respond to the call straight away – any delay in contacting us, even if it’s just to take a little time to get home, may mean we lose the opportunity to capture Giles if it is actually him who has been spotted.

"Please do not approach
him, call us on 999 or 101 as soon as possible.”